Selected Project
Q4
This is the smallest building developed at Smales Farm Technology Park, Takapuna and signals Smales Farm’s future intent to generate broader amenities within the boundaries of Smales Farm, and connect to the Takapuna community and North Shore region. The brief asked that the building support the concept of ‘health’, ‘well being’ and ‘play’, merging the notion of ‘community and family’. Occupying the ground floor is a careful mix of now successful retailers who support, feed and 'water' Smales Farm and the local community. Office floors split approximately 1/3 2/3 by a full height atrium are on the first and second levels. The atrium offers a centering space and connects the street with the formal outdoor space defined by the Q4 and Sovereign building forms. This is a remarkable and successful urban space achieved on a greenfield site. Notions of sustainability were in the earliest conception of the building, and occurred well prior to the release of the Greenstar regime. Good glazing with careful shading, high floor to floors, openable windows and VAV air systems, together with rainwater harvesting and proximity to transport are some of the features that make Q4 a responsible built outcome. The building is a bare bones concrete structure overlaid with disciplined glazing, over which a striking geometric veil of cedar screens is suspended on the NE and NW facades. The SE and SW facades respond to the challenges at the equinoxes where low sun angles combine with high solar gain by shading the building in giant cedar clad panels. In Q4 we deliberately explored the vexing exercise of employing our local commercial building vernacular while delivering a simple elegance in familiar form. We suggest two elements are crucial in the delivery of this; the gable roof and the abundance of real material.
- Category
- Commercial Architecture
- Location
- Auckland
- Year
- 2008
